Heartbeats
by skinnylovve
Summary: It's cold outside, and it's awkward, but some things are just meant to happen. My version of Ginny and Harry's first kiss. The verses at the beginning and end of the story are from the song Heartbeats, by Jose Gonzalez .


One night to be confused

One night to speed up truth,

We had a promise made

Four hands and then away

One night of magic rush

The start, a simple touch

One night to push and scream

And then relief.

XXX

Snow had begun to fall in the stone courtyard beneath Gryffindor Tower. Harry and Ginny's footsteps thudded on the cobbled stones as he struggled to keep up with his friend. Scarves wrapped tightly around their necks, the wind lashed across their faces and the snow fell heavier, white specks against the night.

Harry raised his voice above the wind. "Are you coming to Hogsmeade tomorrow? Neville and Luna were—"

"Sorry, no—loads of work that I need to start," Ginny said hurriedly, quickening her pace as Harry frowned and continued.

"D'you want to come to the library now, then? It's not late yet, and we haven't really talked in a while…" he said quietly, speeding up to meet her pace. He turned to face her, but she kept walking and did not meet his eye.

"No, I'm so tired—sorry, Harry—" she began, but Harry swiftly stepped around her and blocked her path.

Before she could open her mouth to complain, Harry spoke.

"Why are you avoiding me?" he asked firmly, forcing her to meet his strong gaze.

He did not understand the look in her normally bright brown eyes. Her face was guarded, with no visible emotion except impatience. She sighed and didn't meet his eye.

"I'm not avoiding you."

She stepped around him towards the stone door at the end of the courtyard. Snow was now falling around them thick and fast.

Harry caught up with her as they reached the shelter next to the castle door. His face and fingers were numb with cold, but he refused to leave Ginny alone.

"You are, and to be honest, I miss spending time with you."

Ginny bit her lip and swore under her breath. "Don't say that," she whispered, more to herself than to Harry. She turned and rested against the stone wall, wishing Harry would stop inquiring. This was her problem, not his.

Harry stared at her, confused. "What do you expect me to say? I do miss you—but that's not the point—why won't you look at me?" He searched her face for a clue, but there was no clue to be found. He sighed and leaned back against the pillar, not taking his eyes off her. He couldn't bring himself to leave—now he had to know why she was acting so strange.

Ginny sighed. She looked down, looked up, looked anywhere but at Harry. She spoke slowly, to be sure none of her words would slip and ruin everything; crack the façade she'd been hiding behind ever since she realized the truth behind her outrageous, foolish, ridiculous feelings for Harry Potter.

"I didn't mean for this to happen—and I didn't mean to get so obsessed with it, for it to affect me this way. I need to stop, but I can't…" she began, and she looked up at Harry.

His eyes were wrought with concern and confusion, his eyebrows concentrated with genuine worry. God, how she wished they weren't.

"Can't stop what?" Harry asked quietly.

She took a deep breath, again choosing her words carefully.

"It's pathetic. There's so much more I could be worrying about, and yet all I can think about is this. I can't talk about it, Harry."

Harry frowned and moved closer to her, but Ginny shook her head and shied away from the prospect of closeness. He stepped backwards and took a deep breath, still searching her eyes.

"I'm sure you can. Whatever it is that's bothering you can't possibly be pathetic if it's hurting you so much," said Harry carefully.

Ginny sighed exasperatedly. "But that's the thing—it is pathetic, it is trivial."

Something dawned on Harry that he realized hadn't even occurred to him. The thought made him feel slightly uncomfortable, but he swiftly hid his discomfort. This wasn't about him or his foolish feelings, it was about her. He shook the thoughts away.

"Is this about a guy?" he asked hesitantly.

She gave such a frustrated sigh that Harry knew he was right.

"No!—God damnit, yes—is it that obvious?"

Harry smiled wryly but shook his head. "No, just a guess," he said.

Ginny tried not to grimace at his irony. She blocked out the fears in her mind and tried to ignore her stomach tying itself in knots at the pit of her gut. Her feet were planted to the ground, and she couldn't look away from Harry. She tried to continue, but was careful not to breathe in through her nose—she could smell him all the way from here, and it was already interfering with all aspects of her common sense.

"Normally I ignore all this before it gets to this point, where I tear my hair out and can't think of anything else. Normally I can get over it. But this time, I can't. I don't think I even thought about Dean this much…"

Harry raised his eyebrows, surprised. "You mean it's not Dean?"

She winced at his words, but wilfully shook her head. God, how she wished it were that easy.

"So… you like him a lot, then?" said Harry carefully, not wanting to tread on any over-sensitive spot.

Harry's stomach squirmed. Who could she be talking about if it wasn't Dean? A brazen thought crossed his mind, but he quickly pushed it a way. Surely that would be foolish. But now, they were alone and talking about who she liked. Images suddenly flashed through his mind like a thread of film. Him laughing with her, him touching her, him kissing her. His stomach tightened once more.

"Yes, I do. I shouldn't, but I do," she said quietly.

Harry shook himself from his indecent thoughts. "Why shouldn't you?"

"He doesn't see me."

Harry frowned.

"That's ridiculous. I'm sure he sees you—how could anybody not see you?"

Ginny shook her head quickly, again marvelling at the irony of the situation.

"No, really. He has never seen me in that way. He knows me ... but he doesn't see me."

She knew her words were risky. Harry generally knew which people she trusted immensely, and so would easily catch the hint. But she tried to push the fear out of her mind—if she were to lose him, she'd deserve it for her foolish thoughts.

Harry raised his eyebrows. He subconsciously took a step towards her as he considered her words, thinking of the guys that she trusted. Only her brothers and himself came to mind. On a regular day, the second option would have been utterly ridiculous. But at this moment he couldn't deny that he wasn't so sure.

The space between them was heavy and almost electric. She didn't speak, but silently searched his face. Never before had she been unable to read his eyes. They were concentrated and heavy, searching her own for something she did not understand. He seemed to be looking up and down her body, his eyes lingering on the nape of her neck and on her lips. Ginny had never seen him look at a girl this way—so intensely and seriously.

Neither took any notice of the silence between them. It was heavy, but oddly calm. Snow continued to fall around the courtyard, and the water of the fountain tinkled serenely. She could smell his sweat and feel his warm breath on the side of her neck as Harry broke eye contact with her and lowered his head to her level.

It was then that she knew he understood. She wanted him to pull away, to scream, to run—this didn't seem real! Surely she was asleep and would wake at any moment in her dormitory. It was, dare she say it—too good to be true. She was pressed against the stone wall behind her, only a few centimetres between her and Harry. Neither were aware of the distant rumbling thunder or the howl of the wind. They had never been so close together.

Possibilities and chances reeled in their minds.

Harry looked up and caught her eyes. There was a fire in his gaze this time, a determination. He swiftly closed the space between them before Ginny could say anything. He laced his fingers with hers in one hand, and placed his other palm against the wall behind Ginny's shoulder.

The small space between them was electric—Ginny wouldn't have been surprised if the air might have burst into flames.

Harry dipped his head sideways in line with hers as he whispered his words.

"He sees you."

Ginny drew a sharp breath at his three words, but before she could react Harry softly touched his lips to hers.

A shock of electricity seemed to jolt between them both, lighting the fiercest of fires.

When she didn't force him away, he kissed her with more strength and opened her mouth with his tongue. He kissed her rougher than he meant to for a first kiss, but he couldn't help himself—it felt as though this was what he had been waiting for. This was what he needed.

She kissed him back with equal passion. She grew aware of his body pressed tightly against hers, separated only by a few layers of cloth. Harry pressed his hand against the crook of her neck, sending tremors down Ginny's spine. He intimately held his other hand to her waist.

Ginny could have sworn that in this moment they shared the same heartbeats, and in this moment the same fire flared in the pit of their stomachs.

Their lips broke apart for a moment to breathe. Harry's body burned with desire as he looked at her for a moment. It seemed strange that he wanted this girl so badly, yet it had only occurred to him now, after being friends with her for almost six years.

They paused and looked at each other. To Ginny, Harry looked different. She couldn't put her finger on it, but he seemed to look older and more mature. His hair was messy and standing on end, and his shirt accented the muscles in his chest and arms. His eyes held a bold fire within them as he held her gaze intensely.

Again, he drew back simply to look at her. He wasn't smirking, wasn't laughing, wasn't even smiling. He was simply watching her, his curious green eyes sizing her up and down, through and through. She couldn't tell if he was looking at her by means of perversion. He was looking at her so deeply, so unusual, it scared her.

"I've never done that before."

Ginny frowned. He'd definitely kissed a girl before, judging from the way her lips still tingled and the way his hips were pressed to hers.

"Never done what?" she asked breathlessly, still barely able to summon the strength to speak after being kissed so fiercely.

"Never wanted to touch a girl so badly," Harry said quietly. He lowered his head and softly touched his lips to her neck. He pressed his body closer to her as he heard the soft moan escape her lips at his touch.

"R – r – really?" Ginny stuttered, grateful that she was pressed so tightly between Harry and the wall, for fear that her legs might have collapsed.

Harry grinned and looked up. "Not the same way I want you now,"

Before all her senses were completely clouded, Ginny shook herself from the Harry-induced trance. This was too much too fast.

"Harry, wait. I mean, there was just kind of this moment—a hot, electric one at that—but I have to ruin the moment with all my questions …and since you just kissed me and touched me everywhere and drove me insane, I'm pretty sure—well, I'm really sure—that I really like you … And now you're looking at me in this really scary way and I should stop talking right about now but I can't because this is really big, and—"

Harry pressed a finger to her lips in mid-sentence, silencing her. He smiled and couldn't help but chuckle at her sudden verbal diarrhoea. He stepped back slightly to give her space and held her gaze seriously.

"I know," he said quietly, looking at her hard.

"I know this is big. It's big because we've known each other for years. Believe it or not, I thought about all this before I kissed you. I know you. I know you, and I've chosen to kiss you. You know me just as I am, and maybe now we can be together… just as we are."

Nerves pounded in Harry's stomach as he waited for her to respond.

"It's going to take a while for me to get used to the idea that you're my boyfriend, not just my brother's best friend," Ginny said wistfully into Harry's chest.

He smiled. "Don't worry, I'll keep reminding you."

She pulled back to look up at him. "Seriously though, Harry—if this doesn't work out, then I really don't know what will happen…"

"We'll make it work."

Ginny nodded wordlessly. In his arms she felt incredibly safe—from here where she could smell him, breathe him, and still taste him on the tip of her tongue.

Harry slung an arm around her shoulders, and they walked back to Gryffindor Tower hand in hand. He laced his hand with hers, the tips of her fingers still sparking fire on his skin at her touch.

XXX

Ten days of perfect tunes

The colors red and blue

We had a promise made

We were in love

And you, you knew the hands of the devil

And you, kept us awake with wolf teeth

Sharing different heartbeats

In one night.


End file.
